I Want a Vacation
by ShadoutCarver
Summary: Murphy and Bob have a hard day. Sequel to my stories “I want the truth” and “Harvey”


Title: I Want a Vacation  
Author: ShadoutCarver  
Disclaimer: Jim Butcher and used to be SciFi channel but they threw it away so :p  
Book or TV verse: TV with mention of a book character I wish had been in the series.  
Summary: Murphy and Bob have a hard day. Sequel to my stories "I want the truth" and "Harvey"  
Author's Notes: I haven't tried this kind of story yet. I'm not sure how it worked out. I don't want to keep coming back to these two but I can't help it.

-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,

I went to Harry Dresden's office, looking for Harry, when the world caved in. I had enough time to hear an anguished "No, please!" It was Robert's voice. Then an explosive pain in the back of my head preceded darkness. I don't know how long I was unconscious. I woke in pain.

I wasn't in Dresden's office anymore. I was in a tiny studio apartment. Decorated in 'Late American Thrift Shop'. Robert was kneeling next to me, concern on his face.

"I'm sorry, Connie." He said passing his hand through my head. It felt wonderful. His eyes stared into mine. "I'm so sorry. I had to tell him. I had no choice. He was going to hurt you."

"Shut up and get back here." a brutal voice.

Oh hell. It was "Manx" Whalen; a recently paroled thug who worked for "Gentleman Johnny" Marcone, Chicago's most powerful crime figure. He was holding Robert's skull. Crap. Dresden had helped me put him in prison. Now he had taken possession of the skull.

Robert obeyed. He had to. He was cursed, bound to the rune covered skull Manx was holding. He had to obey Manx. How had this happened?

My head was pounding. I felt nauseated. Hell, I was nearly scared witless. I tried to sit up but my arms were handcuffed behind me. Probably with my own handcuffs. "_Kill me now_." I thought. "_If I ever get out of this I will never live it down."_

I watched as Manx drew something on the floor. Robert was reading directions from a tattered spiral notebook opened on the table next to his skull. He frowned at Manx. "Where did you get this notebook?" He asked. Manx waved a dismissive hand at Robert. "Its amazing what you can learn in prison. I had a strange cell mate. I wrote down everything he told me. Now shut up and read. Wait. Hold on."

Manx walked over to me and stuck a taser in my face. I spasmed, threw up, and lost consciousness again.

I woke feeling a cold wet cloth against my face. Robert was gently cleaning me up. I stared at him, my mouth agape. Manx laughed.

"Some magic can be done by anybody with the right recipe. Mostly it requires a wizard." His smile was malicious and frightening. "Now I own my own portable wizard. Thanks to that notebook I can give him a temporary body for anywhere up to 72 hours. And he has to obey me." He laughed. "You and Dresden are only the beginning Lieutenant Murphy. I will run Marcone's empire soon."

Oh shit. He was crazy.

Robert touched my face but said nothing. His was the picture of misery. He reached behind me and pressed the handcuff key into my right hand.

"Get back here, ghost." Manx ordered shortly. He pulled my service pistol from his belt.

He held it out to Robert.

"Kill her." was all he said.

Robert looked at the gun, in anguish.

"Take it." Manx hissed. "That is a command."

Robert snatched the gun. He looked at me, tears running down his face.

"No please. NO." he begged. Manx laughed.

"Kill her, Ghost. That is a command." Manx snarled.

Robert aimed my own pistol at me. Sheer agony showing in his face and body language.

"Forgive me Connie." he mouthed at me.

Oh God.

I closed my eyes. The cuffs I had managed to open dropped to the floor.

"It's OK, Robert." I whispered.

I heard a shot, then a bloodcurdling scream. I opened my eyes. Robert was screaming. Manx lay on the floor in a pool of blood. He looked dead. Robert was holding his head now, and screaming almost soundlessly, his mouth wide open and his eyes screwed shut tears ran down his face. He moved abruptly and raised the pistol to his own throat.

I reached him before he could pull the trigger.

"NO" I yelled sharply, twisting his arm behind him, taking the my weapon back and slamming him face first into the kitchen table where his skull sat. I held his arm up almost to his shoulder blade and pushed him down while I holstered my handgun and reached for his skull. I said the words he had told me when I first met him. "I claim this skull."

Robert's screaming stopped.

I felt him shudder and sag. I eased up the pressure but he did not move. There were tremors running through his body. He was sobbing silently.

He didn't move as I left him to check on Manx. No pulse.

"Connie?" a whispered plea.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"May I get up?" He asked softly.

I helped him get up. He leaned on me as he staggered to the dingy sofa. He glared at Manx's body.

Robert stopped for a moment then raised his arm and whispered in some language I could not identify. The body disappeared, leaving almost no trace. He dropped into the sofa. He still shuddered with occasional sobs.

"I am so sorry, My Lady. Please forgive me." he leaned his head back. I sat next to him and let him lean into me.

"It wasn't your fault."

He sat forward. He wrapped his arms around me in a hug. I hugged back. The hug tightened.

"I am so sorry." he repeated.

I felt his hands cup my face, his lips on mine. He leaned in and kissed me as if he hadn't kissed a woman in a thousand years – which might not be far off the mark.

He let me go and sat back. I wound up for a slap but my hand went right through his head. He hadn't even flinched.

He was smiling more widely than I've ever seen him. God he could look so predatory.

"I'm not going to apologize for that." he told me, grinning.

"Oh just get in your skull." I told him.

"As you wish, My Lady!" he turned into an enthusiastic column of smoke and sparks and disappeared into his skull.

There was no body, no evidence of what had happed. I did not call the shooting in.

I took the skull back to Dresden's office so Harry could reclaim possession of Robert.

I did not tell Harry I still have the notebook. I told him I destroyed it.

I want a vacation. I think Robert might like one too. See, I figure, if I borrow Robert's skull for a long weekend, I can take him and the notebook to a nice hotel with room service.

What Harry doesn't know won't hurt him.


End file.
